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A poor teenage boy from the ghetto wants to do good but the circumstances surrounding him forces him to indulge in crime. He is a young boy whose football dreams and impoverished reality are inextricably intertwined to create the perfect ghetto tension. He will pay the ultimate price for seeking an easy way out of poverty. Too soon. Too quick. Here in the ghetto, weeds are plucked faster than dreams are weaved. A robbery gone wrong; his undoing. Now as a government tenant, his redemption is nigh but the past clutches on his future. Where does he go from here?

Criminal is the 5th Single from Muthoni Drummer Queen’s newly released album titled SHE.

Criminal is loosely based on the real life story of Felista Wanjiru, the widow to Kenya’s most wanted criminal Simon Matheri’s who only found out her husbands true identity after he was gunned down by the police. To understand this story more:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4m2Y…

I love watching Vice news which gives a different view and perspective on the of the world. It’s one of the few remaining realistic news medium. Whicle watching last weeks espisode on “Monkey Meat and the Ebola Outbreak in Liberia” they featured had this song “Ebola In Town “now sweeping the dance floors of Liberia and Guinea recorded by Liberians rappers D – 12, Shadow & Kuzzy Of 2 Kings warning of the dangers of Ebola – which has killed 188 people in the region in two months.

The song is catchy and just had to be featured on the site. With lyrics like ‘Don’t touch your friend’, ‘Don’t eat the food’ (a euphemism for sex), ‘No touching’ and No kissing, makes this record a great PSA.

It’s been a while since we last showcased Kenrazy, and it’s fitting that this new single and video comes out before the new year. He’s one of the artists who been through the ups and down in the music industry from changing labels, experimenting with different sounds and producers to finally finding that stable ground.

He’s been releasing records on a monthly basis and it’s one thing to do that and another thing to to have an ultimate plan of doing something with the records. The best route nowadays is to go the mixtape way or do the EP thing.

Look at Trinidad James one of the hottest street artists right now. He’s touring and making show money off his mixtape material. It sounds clique, but it works. Kuraburndem is a great addition to Kenrazy’s touring and show catalog. It’s not his strongest effort, but it’s a good decent effort.

Listen to the track below:

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It’s been a long two weeks and we’re finalizing everything by showcasing the 254 TOP 10 Freshmen 2012 mixtape. For the artist full write ups you can check them out here. I wanna thank all the folks you were instrumental in making this possible. We all did something remarkable and ground breaking with this one. It’s a first of many to come. For all the true fans that kept sending us mail, texts and hitting us on Facebook and Twitter, we appreciate all the support, the positive and sometimes negative feedback.

To all the freshmen, thanks for all the great music. You truly deserve to have this shine. Remember the grind never stops. Just because you’re a freshman, the hard work has to remain and stay consistent. We will be doing a “Where they at” review of all the freshmen mid next year. Like Nas says “If I ruled the world and everything in it, sky’s the limit”.

If I ruled the world you would definitely get a 254 TOP 10 Freshmen 2012 cypher and a mini tour:)

Let’s start the work week right with this brand new song by Muthoni the Drummer Queen. On the track, Muthoni literally goes to the streets, by recruiting Octopizzo, Numba Nane – one of the hottest spitter in Kenya currently for some 16’s. I heard this song once, and it’s been in my head ever since. … Instead of writing a long post, I’ll let the song speak for itself. You gotta give it up for this brilliant collabo. It’s one of those championship collaborations, bringing together Muthoni’s Afro-Pop + Edge fans and Octopizzo’s die hard hip hop fans.

This is a new group from Nakuru, mainly high school kids, their produce is a guy called mtu panya, also out of Nakuru. I met them a few months ago when sir prestige was visiting. Not much i can say except they got a bright future ahead of them. Track is okay, potential is greater. Q-bloods – I am a warrior by getmziki

Its obvious we have been busy for a few weeks now with the long holidays shit is bound to get out of hand for a few. But I am glad to be back on the grind and back with a BANGER like this one. KNEL sent me this track originally to watch the video and witness the quickness of these brothers. But Kforce whom I have been following for a while, tears up the Mic on this track.

This new Kenya I am loving, coz the new Kenya makes no normal lines between American hiphop, Kenyan hiphop or anything hiphop. Its such a blend of qualities and languages that honestly the average American would have a hard time trying to figure out if the artist is from here or from there. The sheng is legit, the English is legit – to top it off you give a guy a sick beat and what you have is just CLASSIC material. I love this track by all means. The video is hot, the gear and the attitude on the video is hot. The fact that they shot it in downtown Nairobi is also tight (I am tired of boody shaking videos with young 16yr olds hanging out in the background – that’s not hot). But this here… this here my friends is KENYAN hiphop and a good indication of where hiphop in East Africa is headed.

If you watch TV enough, you know K-letta is the ‘voice’ of Bankika – KCB’s youth banking solution. That alone is a big statement that a local bank is using Hiphop expression to target the youth Market. K-letta has been in the game for a minute, if im not wrong he started off with Calif records then had a stint in the U.K. then returned to Kenya picking right up form where he left.

Sometime earlier this year Sauti Sol dropped their sophomore album appropriately titled “Sol Filosofia.” I have been trying to slowly internalize it over the last few weeks however to be honest I think it captures a little bit of everything which I wasnt quite sure if it was the right strategy. However after several listens, I am glad to report that I think they stayed true to their brand and their sound. Initially I had heard rumors that they were selling out and are trying this whole new dance sound and this eclectic sound that would allow them to cross over to Europe or US. However after listening to the album (its available on itunes and Amazon), I can carefully say – the men who brought you the “the Blue Uniform” are still intact.

From the entire album this is the one track that stands out for me. This for me is why I listen to Sauti Sol, and more importantly this for me is why I love Wesh, PENYA AFRICA (Imekubaliwa) and everything in between that these cats put together. I mean yes the album seems to have a little bit of everything for everyone but to me if you asked me to describe Sauto Sol – I would probably pull this type of songs from their bag. The tracks brings out the maturity in their voices, the harmonies, the synergies – its just a perfect African song. And there is nothing that says miro as much as MALIKIA (although waswahili tunasema Malkia). If you have a shorty you like you may want to play this for her over and over again..

ps. Sauti Sol stylist – I see Skinny Jeans attack in Kenya too lol

listen to malikia here:

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Since i don’t speak French, i cant reallly talk about the content of this track, but there is alot of name dropping going on Eto, i guess
naming all the Cameroonian stars or something. But Beyond that Hopio – or Pascal is Cameroonian artiste based out of Nairobi trying to practice he’s craft in Nairobi. Beyond that i will be honest and say there is noting groundbreaking about this track more like a spin or bin it.

This track just landed in my inbox, and i’m not even hesitating to post it, give it a listen there is something of a freshness to it.I met Lulu before since he works in a studio on the 2nd floor. The first tracks i had from him were interesting but missing something – but i guess the kid been perfecting he’s craft and this track might just be a big hit.

Clemo and I email back and forth from time to time and he is always keen on showing me what he is working on next. I have to admit I admire is zeal and drive to push his label to the next level. Seriously when you think about a home grown record label its hard not to think about Calif Records. It also is interesting that his brother developed the passion for video/production to the level he has building a small empire with his Luche production which does most of the Calif Record music videos.

Every now and then I will log on to Clemo’s youtube channel to see whats cooking. This weekend I stumbled upon some relatively old/new interviews of Mejja. There are numerous other interviews of Mejja online I believe but to date I think this is probably the more informative and more relaxed I have watched. I am hoping that Mejja or Calif TV can actually materialize and produce some comedy sitcoms of Mejja coz the cat just makes me happy lyrically and also as a character on his music videos. Reminds me of Mr. Bean 🙂

I was in Maui last week – Maui is far its like one of the last places to celebrate new year normally
so i’m in this airport shuttle and some guy enters and right away i new he was African. He had a huge drum with him which took one of the rows of that shuttle. Anyway we got talking and i found out he was from Senegal and was there as musician doing performances all over the Island – Oh and the van driver was an Egyptian – how did 3 Africans end up on this remote island so far from Africa ?

One thing you got to give to Senegalese is that they are strong on culture, they feed off their culture the way Kenyans feed off Athletics and they have a deep bench of talent – you can’t go to any major city in the US or the world without finding some Senegalese music group art group or somebody just selling curious and artifacts.

Anyway that conversation got me thinking about this post which i was working on earlier but did not have a story to go with it – i know people like background stories but in a perfect world i would rather just post a song and let it speak for itself.

I flew down to New York to kick it with Kim of Jamhuri wear. Kim has been a supporter and collaborator of GetMziki from day one. We share insight and ideas – what is relevant though is that Kim has a key to the city. In the space of 2 days i have hanged out with Knaan, played ball with Steve nash, rolled with Vince of entourage – personally i think Kim should ditch the clothing label and become a community organizer here in Harlem then maybe work hes way to the oval office – but thats just me.

But my biggest revelation – which i kindof been sleeping on is Blitz the ambassador . Blitz, from Accra ,Ghana is one special MC – who is making he’s mark on hiphop. He’s beats borrow heavily from old school hiphop, some Fela sensability – and mostly conscious lyrics.

Kind of late posting this, but here we go: In other news the kokomaster has a reality show at the kokomansion with 12 Kokolettes – something like a flavor of love Nigeria style – http://www.kokomansion.tv/about.php

Seems this year Mozambique is on the come up – seems a lot of new music is coming out of Mozambique including Lizha James who is making a name for herself Africa wide. But this track is from Dj Ardilles this track has been on heavy rotation on Dj Edu show for quite a while. The video itself is MINI MINI big pimping video .

BLK JKS is a group from Johannesburg ,South Africa – They have there own style of music which sort of defies attempts to pigeonhole them – though for me they closely resemble and look like Black Uhuru in the early 80’s

BLK JKS have been touring extensively in the US and Europe and you can catch more info about them here and their blog.

This is a mix I did a couple of weeks ago and just now getting to post it. Some of the tracks driving the streets crazy and which we will be showcasing here at GetMziki in the next hrs/days are the Ken Razy bangers “Ashu Kwa Shu” and “Kupe” . I also world premier Rop’s street anthem “Ji Shugli” featuring Jua Cali and showcase Nigeria’s Ajufo where he jumps on P-Squares instrumental and HB Toxics Banger with AY “All I Need”.

If you need me to feature any of this songs on GetMziki let me know. Thanks and Enjoy!!!!

Some big tunes circulating mp3 will be posted as soon as available but in the meantime here are couple of tracks the first is a singer called Justina who i am meant to understand has been blowing up the spot in Nigeria. – Omo 2 sexy

The second tracks is from Samini from Ghana – where my baby deh. is definitely a club banger.

The third clip is Corneille from Canada via Rwanda this song is slightly old but good music is good music. Listen keenly because the youth about to blow up – back to life:

And last but not least this years Grammy Nominee – Wayna from DC via Ethiopia and former speechwriter for Bill Clinton (???).

Albert Mangwair aka Mangwea, Mangwair, Ngwea or Ngwair has been featured on Getmziki before (Click here), so I will just go straight to the songs “Speed 1-20 and “Nipe Deal” / “Nipe Dili”. I’m sure all my Bongo fans will be happy with this post.

I had started writing the post for the “Nipe Deal” song when my Tanzanian contacts emailed me the “Speed 120” song which I have been trying to find a good copy for a few weeks now. The song is currently a street anthem in TZ and slowly bubbling to the charts. On “Speed 120”, he enlists the help of Chidi Benz (One of my favourite artists In TZ right now ) for a perfect blend and collabo. “Nipe deal” is a song that has been bubbling on the underground for a minute and its now spreading like world fire. Mangwair just recently wrapped up shooting the videos for the songs, which should take the songs to higher heights. I know I will be adding “speed 120” on my serato and rocking it at my shows.

Enjoy the tracks!!!!!!!

Listen To The Tracks Here:

Mangwair Feat Chidi Benz- Speed I20

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This is a big tune, big in 2008 and will be big in 2009. Ahmadou and Mariam are musical duo husband and wife from Bamako, Mali. Both are blind but what they lack in sight they more than make up for in music.